I've never used Win 8, and I don't see using it until MS no longer supports Win 7. So I have a couple of questions. When Win 8 starts, instead of the desktop screen we're used to seeing, Win 8 starts in a tile screen, is that correct?

But if you want to go to the "normal" desktop screen you can select to do that manually. Is that correct?

When Win 8 is first installed, are there any settings presented that allow the user to set the program to run on desktop, tablet, smartphone, etc.? I realize some devices have limits and things must be set to certain settings to work properly, but it seems to me the user should have the option to set the type of main screen they prefer as default when its used on a PC.

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If something gets your goat, it just proves you have a goat to get.

I've never used Win 8, and I don't see using it until MS no longer supports Win 7. So I have a couple of questions. When Win 8 starts, instead of the desktop screen we're used to seeing, Win 8 starts in a tile screen, is that correct?

Yes

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But if you want to go to the "normal" desktop screen you can select to do that manually. Is that correct?

Yes, but when you boot the OS, it will not start with the desktop by default.

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When Win 8 is first installed, are there any settings presented that allow the user to set the program to run on desktop, tablet, smartphone, etc.?

Windows 8 doesn't run on tablet or smartphone.Windows RT does run on tablet or smartphone, and it looks very much like Windows 8, but it's different underneath.

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I realize some devices have limits and things must be set to certain settings to work properly, but it seems to me the user should have the option to set the type of main screen they prefer as default when its used on a PC.

You have to use 3rd party software if you want the default screen to be the desktop.

Correct to all of the above. Now, yes, you can get to the desktop with a press of the enter key if you have your desktop tile on the upper left. Or you can switch with a press of the Windows key. But why not allow people the option to boot into whichever interface they choose? I've been called lazy in one forum when told the desktop is only one key away, but my point is that I/ME/I should have the choice!

Classic Shell is a free 3rd party program that lets you make Windows 7 or Windows 8 look and behave just like you want it to.

I'm telling people there is no earthly reason to switch to Windows 8 if they are running Windows 7.

Next to simple screenshots, one of my other favorite features is NO REBOOTS after updates and other changes. Plus, when Windows 8 DOES need to reboot, it gives you a message about it 2 days ahead of time rather than annoying you about it every few minutes.

People who design software don't seem to believe users should have as much control over the display as they'd like. I should be able to configure a display any way I choose, and not have someone who doesn't know my preferences force me into something I stick my tongue at.

Software designers, and developers, are trying to create something computer users, of any kind, will buy. So why limit the users' options for how their product will be displayed. If I want tiles littering my display, I should be able to have tiles littering my display. If I want only certain things on the screen, I should be able to do that as well.

It won't happen because too many users just have to have the latest and greatest, but if computer users would stop buying a program because it's the latest and greatest, designers and developers would start to give the buyers exactly what they want. Not what the designers and developers believe they should have. This is a contention I've had from the first day I started my first computer, and it hasn't changed.

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If something gets your goat, it just proves you have a goat to get.

I couldn't agree more, Homer. Our computers - at home anyway - are very personal expressions to most of us. I/ME/I want to have control over how it looks and works for me. I believe we will be holding our collective breaths a long time before anything changes.

It seems to me, that most people forget, that MS is designing it in this simple way, so even monkeys can make it work.

For one reason only - cut down on all the "stupid" calls to support from people, who don't know how to do this or that.They are tired of the "average" user not being able to figure out even how to get online (just an example)

In my opinion, they are dumbing down windows.And you know, that would be all fine by me, if they would leave it alone for the rest of us or maybe give us an "enhanced" version - not dumb version.

Sorry for all the "" seems I "like" to use that a lot lol

_________________________"You can not escape your past, but you can make your future" - Diana Melkumova - @wowdane

On the other hand, and speaking for the monkeys, Microsoft isn't designing 8 for PC users, IMO, but for everyone else with their iPads and laptops and I have no idea what since I have none of them, just my PC. Homer6 has the right idea.

It does seem it wouldn't take much for them to tailor a version of Windows 8 for the desktop PC...no dumb touch screen, for instance, which makes zero sense if you're sitting at a desk. A lot of people still do, despite all that talk about desktop computers going the way of the dodo. They are supposed to be the brains, they should use them to keep us happy and quite possibly less averse to change as a result.

Cranky

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"Best not to think about it. I don't want to fall to bits 'cos of excess existential thought."

I agree with all of the above. It seems to me that MS in their haste to "catch up" to the tablet and phone market did a disservice to their PC market. I have two laptops for work loaded with Windows 7. I am having a hard time seeing the two companies that supplied me with these laptops go with Windows 8 as it is currently being sold.

But I try to stay away from solid predictions for the PC market. I remember clearly when the IBM PC was introduced. There was a smallish but very active PC market at the time with companies getting in their entries. The IBM PC was many times the price of the competitors and I boldly claimed that it would never catch on as it had priced itself right out of the market.

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BobI've learned that if you're too busy to help a friend, you're too busy.

I think too many companies try and be all for everything that's on the electronic market, instead of doing what they've done best for so many years.

The way many buy the latest and greatest, regardless if it's needed or not, many companies can see there are huge profits to be made. They also see that it doesn't take much to improve something for most people to jump on the bandwagon and obtain that something before anyone else.

Because of this, those companies who shouldn't get into a certain sector of the market do, and usually at the expense of the one thing that made them the best at what they do.

As a result of these and other factors, we don't get what we want or even need, but what's been seen that sells. And whoa unto those who don't subscribe to what's been forced upon them. For they will be seen as stagnant, behind the times, a waste of time for any company to provide a service they once were heralded.

Give thanks for all those who believe, thanks to cunning advertisements, they can't live without the latest and greatest. For they are the ones who helped delete those things that, while not the latest and greatest, did a bang up job at what they were intended.

Edited by Homer6 (04/19/1302:24 AM)

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If something gets your goat, it just proves you have a goat to get.

Change is good. However, this storm of new technology that has come is way to fast for me. I'm retired and comfortable with the simplicity of my old desktop computer. Too much change over a short period of time can be overwhelming. You barely have time to get use to Win 7 and along comes Win8 an shortly another new OS!Sorry but I'm still using XP. Maybe the old adage will prove to be true - What comes around goes around - and we will go back to XP!

If there is one thing I don't EVER want to have to do, it's go back to XP! I love Windows 7 and it's the best OS they've ever developed. With the speed of the shift to portable devices, I understand why Microsoft went they way they did with Windows 8 and I've embraced it as much as I'm able. I am a bit of a Luddite in that they will have to pry my desktop, keyboard and mouse out of my cold dead hands!